The spectre of a DDoS attack has become a persistent source of anxiety for public sector digital teams
Otherwise known as distributed denial of service, it is a type of cyber attack in which an organisation’s server is overloaded by requests from multiple computers or locations so that real users can no longer access the site or its services.
It is not the most sophisticated type of attack, but it can still do great harm. Last year a group of local authorities in Greater Manchester suffered significant disruption from a DDoS attack attributed, according to a report by the BBC, to a group named NoName057(16); and the National Cyber Security Centre has previously warned of the DDoS threat from groups sympathetic to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
With the trend of increasing cyber attacks against public sector organisations, there is a need to be continually on guard against the threat.
The scale, perpetrators and evolving forms of such attacks forms the basis of a UKA Live discussion, Anatomy of a DDoS attack, to be staged in collaboration with Cloudflare and scheduled to take place at 11.00 am on Thursday 27 February.
Best practice and the impact of AI
It will involve looking back at the attack trends over the past year, examining real world scenarios, looking ahead to the likelihood of future attacks, and Cloudflare’s role in mitigating the effect of the largest DDoS attack of all time. It will also look what measures organisations to take to defend against the attack, with expert perspectives on best practice. It will also explore what motivates attackers, how criminals are 'commoditising' the weapons of attacks, and ask how AI might help - both the defenders and the attackers.
Taking part will be Cloudflare’s senior product manager for DDoS protection and security reporting Omer Yoachimik, Norforlk County Council’s chief technology officer Kurt Frary, and UKAuthority research director Helen Olsen Bedford.
Viewers logged in for live discussion will be able to submit questions and make observations that will be shared with the panellists, and contribute to the longer term debate around the issue.
It is a great opportunity to learn more about one of the most important elements of cyber security in public services.
You can register to join the UKA Live here.
